June 21 and 22, 2008

Sam's stamina and energy has increased this past week because he has had no chemo treatments for the last week and a half. Although it was hard to adjust to the delay, we were able to enjoy the great weather and our families.

On Saturday we spent the afternoon and evening with Ger's brothers family in Langely. We watched Amy, Becky, and Hannah play in their year end baseball tournaments. It was great to watch them in action, listen to Auntie Noni yelling and cheering on her girls and their teams,(she is the loudest parent in ALL the stands!), and be outside for the afternoon. We spent the evening eating, laughing, and watching a couple movies. Thanks for having us Goertzen family...we had a super time!

On Sunday, my sister, Donna came over in the morning so I could attend Grace Point church, located just a few minutes away. A couple of Ger's cousins go there and we have often attended there in the summers when we come stay with Grandma and Grandpa. After lunch, Donna, Lina, (my other "adopted sister") Sam and I went to Steveston, on someones recommendation. (Thanks to whoever you were!) Sam and I had never been there and it was INCREDIBLE! There was an outdoor Farmer's Market set up so we had fun looking around, sampling some food, and enjoying the local artisans. We saw the old canneries, historical buildings, toured the old shipbuilding yard and buildings, and were fascinated by all the fishing boats. We spent 3 hours touring around. I am so glad I got the wheelchair for Sam which enables us to do much more. He would never last more than 5 - 10 minutes otherwise. In the early evening we went to watch cousin Murphy play his indoor lacrosse game. Sam and I have never watched this game before and although we had heard about it, it didn't quite prepare us for the non stop ACTION, most of it very exciting, but some of it very scary. It really is something to experience. Having taken pointers from my sister-in-law Noni the previous day, our family cheering section managed to thoroughly embarrass my nephew...what great fun we had! We came home, skyped the other half of our family in PG, and literally fell into our beds...

We are experiencing two worlds: One is the world of cancer: nausea, headaches, vomiting, needles, pills, hospital visits, chemo, blood tests, invasive procedures, exhaustion. The other world includes: walks along the ocean, dreams, hopes, precious conversations, laughter, participating in touristy things, FOOD, extended family, friends, new and old, who are making our journey bearable and often wonderful! It's easy to feel like we are coping well, our spirits are up, when Sam is feeling good. Although we know he needs the chemo treatments to survive we don't look forward to them in anyway, shape or form. Please pray for Sam as his blood tests on Tuesday will determine whether he starts his next protocol on Wednesday. This will include another spinal tap on Wednesday and chemo treatments on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

It's another sunny, gorgeous day in White Rock, which we intend to enjoy!

Blessings on you and your day!